Fifty senior Republican national
security officials have issued a stinging rejection of
their party’s
White House nominee Donald Trump, warning he would be “the most reckless
president in American history” if elected.
The group, some of whom already
announced they would not vote for Trump, included former homeland
security chiefs, intelligence directors, senior presidential advisors
and a former US trade representative. They served under Republican
presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush.
“We are convinced that he would be a
dangerous president and would put at risk our country’s national
security and well-being,” they wrote in a statement published in The New
York Times on Monday.
Their disavowal of the Republican
presidential candidate was followed by another setback for Trump, when
influential US Senator Susan Collins said Tuesday he was “unworthy” of
America’s highest elective office, and will not receive her support.
“I will not be voting for Donald Trump
for president. This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a
lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical
Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is
critical to healing the divisions in our country,” Collins wrote in an
op-ed article appearing in Tuesday’s Washington Post.
Unfit for office
While the US security experts did not
say they would vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton indeed they expressed
“doubts” about her they were clear in stating that “none of us will
vote for Donald Trump.”
They essentially declared the brash
billionaire unfit for office, echoing Clinton’s criticism by saying that
Trump “lacks the character, values, and experience to be president” and
displays “alarming ignorance of basic facts” of international politics.
The New York real estate mogul also has
shown no willingness to learn about foreign affairs or national security
threats, “acts impetuously” and lacks self control, the statement said.
“He is unable or unwilling to separate
truth from falsehood,” the group wrote, saying Trump possesses a set of
“dangerous qualities” that should disqualify him from the presidency.
“We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless president in American history.”
They warned that the political
neophyte’s “erratic behavior” has alarmed America’s closest allies,
adding that he fails to recognize the indispensable nature of such
diplomatic relationships.
The signatories include Tom Ridge and
Michael Chertoff, the first and second homeland security secretaries
under president George W. Bush, former director of National Intelligence
John Negroponte and Bush-era CIA director Michael Hayden.
Also in the group are former US Trade
Representative and World Bank president Robert Zoellick and Eric
Edelman, former national security advisor to vice president Dick Cheney.
Trump responds
Trump issued a sharply worded reprimand
of the group, painting them as “nothing more than the failed Washington
elite looking to hold onto their power” and saying they should be “held
accountable” for making the world less safe.
“These insiders – along with Hillary
Clinton – are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq,
allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are the ones who allowed
the rise of ISIS,” Trump said.
“I offer a better vision for our country and our foreign policy one that is not run by a ruling family dynasty.”
The anti-Trump Republicans join members
of the security establishment who have already come out against the
nominee, including former CIA director Michael Morell, who last Friday
accused Trump of being an “unwitting agent” of Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Collins, who represents the state of Maine in the US Senate, was no less scathing about Trump in her opinion piece particularly with regard to his bullying of those less powerful and less prominent.
“I have become increasingly dismayed by
his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error
or apologize,” the US senator wrote.
“But it was his attacks directed at
people who could not respond on an equal footing either because they
do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility
precluded them from engaging at such a level that revealed Mr. Trump
as unworthy of being our president.”
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